Episode 5 of “Caught in the Net” explores the tragic murder of 3-year-old Brendon Creato, who was found dead just a couple miles away from his New Jersey home. Brendon was a genuinely happy child, and he adored everyone around him. Samantha Deneto had Brendon with her ex-boyfriend David; however, the former was forced to call off the relationship after finding out that David had been having multiple affairs behind her back. David had Brendon every other weekend and, according to Samantha, was a gentle and loving dad. Brendon went missing when his father, David, was sound asleep. After his unsuccessful and desperate search for his kid, David decides to involve the police and also contacts Samantha, informing her that Brendon has gone missing.
Spoilers Ahead
The Ensuing Search
Officer Kirk Earney of the Haddon Township Police Department(now retired) took the reins of the investigation. During his initial investigation, Kirk wasn’t able to find any signs of forced entry. Owing to decades of experience, Officer Kirk knows that time is of the essence when it comes to locating a lost child and thus decides to launch a full-fledged search enlisting the help of vehicle patrol, police choppers, and canine units. Hours into the search, the cops were led into the woods by the canine unit and discovered Brendon’s lifeless body lying on the side of the creek. The news of Brendon’s death sent shivers down everyone’s spine, and police immediately began a thorough investigation to identify and apprehend his perpetrator. The fact that Brendon was just sporting socks and boxer shorts tipped off the police to the likelihood of foul play. There were no shoes near the crime scene, and Brendon’s clean socks heavily implied that he didn’t walk to the woods on his own.
Due to a lack of tangible evidence, law enforcement was forced to depend only on digital leads in their search for the perpetrator. The cops immediately began canvassing the area for any surveillance footage that would provide them any clues to finding the suspect. Police were able to locate one camera, which was placed around 700 yards away from the crime scene; however, the footage turned out to be of no value.
The Brewing Suspicions
During the initial interview with David, the cops requested permission to go through David’s phone. After a thorough analysis, the cops notice dozens of phone calls between him and his seventeen-year-old girlfriend, Julia. The forensics team also discovers more than 9000 text messages between the couple, most of them concerning Brendon. Many of the exchanged texts were highly disturbing, forcing the cops to suspect that Julia might have a role to play in Brendon’s disappearance. Julia wasn’t a fan of David’s relationship with his son Brendon and often argued with the latter to cut ties with his son. During the questioning, Julia revealed that she had been in Trenton, leading to Brendon’s death; however, the cops decided to rule her out as a suspect based on her alibi. David’s odd demeanour caught the attention of Officer Kirk, who suspected that David had prepared his responses and decided to dwell deeper into the 9000 exchanged texts.
‘Caught In The Net’ Episode 5: Ending – Who Killed Brendon Creato?
The text message exchanged between Julia and David revealed that the latter was becoming jealous and paranoid over the course of their relationship and absolutely hated the idea of Julia going out with her guy friends. David was also closely monitoring Julia’s social media account, believing that she might be cheating on him behind his back. Julia’s constant disapproval drove him crazy to the point that he would do anything to catch her attention, even kicking his son Brendon out of his life. Meanwhile, David’s rehearsed answers were making his stance ever more suspicious. Fortunately, the digital forensics team managed to discover a picture in David’s phone and were stunned to find out that it was from the same location as where Brendon’s corpse had been discovered. Unfortunately, David had retained a lawyer, making him inaccessible for further questioning. With no choice left, the cops enlisted the help of Brendon’s mother, Samantha, providing her with a recording device to document her conversation with David. The recording proved vital to the case, as Samantha managed to get an obscure and shaky confession out of David, but it shook her to the core, as she never thought David would do anything like that.
On January 11, 2016, David Creato was put in handcuffs and was charged with the first-degree murder of his 3-year-old son, Brendon Creato. David was a monster who killed his own son to save his relationship with his seventeen-year-old girlfriend. Julia, even though she was involved in this case, was never charged in the death of Brendon Creato. David has grown obsessed with Julia and is deluded to the point where he thinks that killing his son would reignite her love for him. Unfortunately, the Jury wasn’t able to come to a unanimous decision, forcing the judge to declare the mistrial and putting the case back on the trial list. Fearing to receive much more severe sentencing during the next trial, David decided to take a plea deal on the charge of aggravated manslaughter and was sentenced to 10 years in prison without the possibility of parole.
David was an obsessive guy who sought to keep his girlfriend from socialising with anybody other than himself. He was also quite adamant about being kept apprised of her whereabouts and grew furious if she did not conform to his demands. Such neediness is usually an indication that he wants to exert dominance in the relationship. David had doubts about Julia’s faithfulness. He kept a close eye on her and was always reading her messages, emails, and social media posts. Furthermore, he used to grow outraged at the mere discovery of any contact with other guys, no matter how benign they might be. At last, he concluded that killing his own kid was the only way to make things right.